” We, at Niantic Labs at Google, are really excited to let you know that our biggest milestone since the introduction of Ingress is just around the corner: On December 14, 2013, when our worldwide 9-week, 39-city global player event called Operation #13MAGNUS concludes, Ingress will exit Beta. So today, we have several important announcements to share:

First off, we are dropping the invitation code requirement so that we can welcome all Android players into our Beta. We look forward to welcoming new Agents into the global Ingress community. Beginning now, you can join the worldwide action by downloading Ingress on Google Play at http://goo.gl/KIshWr

Niantic Labs would also like to thank Agents around the world who have supported us during the beta, so today we are also announcing a special one-time badge: The Founder Medal . All Agents that reach Level 5 by December 14, 2013 will qualify for a special achievement for their early support of the Ingress experience.

Additionally, we are excited to announce The Ingress Elite Vchallenge. From Monday, November 4 through the culmination of Operation #13MAGNUS on Saturday, December 14, all Ingress Agents will be eligible to participate in this challenge to identify the five (5) most elite Agents from around the world. Measured by a wide set of Ingress performance stats and a creative social media submission, the winning Ingress Agents will be flown to California for Top Secret Ingress briefings in February 2014 and a special interview with+Susanna Moyer from The Ingress Report at http://www.youtube.com/ingress . Details on the Ingress Elite V challenge can be found at http://goo.gl/Cxfo1b ”

Along with the shift from the Beta experimental stage to the open market Google is offering some additional treats and challenges for those lucky enough to be playing the Beta version of the game during the lead-up to going public . Below is a brief synopsis of what Ingress is all about … for the uninitiated , such as ourselves …

“Ingress is a game of exploration and discovery in the real world, as well as a way to join in with an amazing global community of Ingress Agents,” said +John Hanke , VP in charge of Google’s Niantic Labs. “Our journey over the past year has taken us to live events in more than 80 cities around the world, more than one million downloads of the Ingress app, and more than one million Portals discovered and submitted by Ingress Agents. Two ebooks, a comic book series, and a weekly YouTube show, ‘The Ingress Report’ paint a rich picture of the Ingress world. And Agents have made it their own with more than 2,000 Ingress user communities created on global social networks and countless designs for shirts, badges, jewelry and other objects. More than a dozen Agents have gone so far as to tattoo the Ingress logos on their bodies! A huge thank you to all of the amazing people that have been part of the Ingress journey so far. You have helped make Ingress what it is and have inspired us with so many amazing stories about meeting one another and finding new ways to explore and interact with our world. We can’t wait to see how players continue to make Ingress and the real world a more fun and inspiring place.”

Even after putting together this post we must admit that we are still mostly in the dark as to the whole concept of Ingress , but if nothing else , it is a game that will finally get people’s butts up off the couch and out into the world . We supposed that that is benefit enough for a start .